open to the front and air tight elsewhere is NOT what the woods book says at all - his book and designs represented learning curves and modifications he made and noted over the years
what is interesting in the woods book, which I've read and reread from cover to cover is that he says several things - one is that the coop shouldn't be shorter than 16 feet in length, best 18 to 20 feet with the roosts at the farthest part in the back, and that airtight isn't the issue - it's air, the air buffer from inside and no drafts which doesn't mean wind but different temps/humidity from outside air to inside air - in fact in the air flow pictures the air circulates under and up through the roosts and the chickens on the roosts - and the top windows should be open continuously at the 10 foot level from may to first snow, then closed - he is more specific on what not to do it seems than do, such as making the front too short in height for example - the book is a historical treatise on what changes occurred over the years and how he modifies - wonder what he'd do with new technology now?
in designing our coop as I stand in it now, with the front windows open there is no draft I personally feel at the roost level, having the acurite system to check the outside run in comparison to the inside, it is interesting to see that the humidity levels are doing well inside - not sure where everyone else lives with this design, but here in CT with the super cold we had it was minus 5 for days and nights and continuing cold that was oppressive and clearly stressing the birds and us worrying about them
with the dry humidity days, no frostbite, but the warmer days with the snow present a challenge regulating humidity inside - so I would love to see a comparison of more humid days in other climates from people using an acurite system for outside vs. inside humidity levels - this is where Woods is quick to point out that if the height above the roosts is too close, humidity will develop and drip back onto them-in ours it rises up and out - there are no outside vents into the coop, so the hot air can be trapped up in the top above them and the shed area if the shed window is closed - not sure how much air is making it out of the peak since there are no outside vents in the coop to help push it through - in the spring we could do smoke testing to see
outside, the run is enclosed in plastic which makes it about 10 degrees warmer than inside the coop and yard -the side of the run against the coop is open on the bottom because the coop is about 2 to 2.5 feet off the ground which is sloped, and there is wire cloth and a plastic open fence to keep critters out - so still lots of fresh air in the run
we have a majority of breeds that have pea combs and rose combs, but the two that have the very floppy single come - one has no sign of frostbite, but the Columbian cross does have black on the very tips of her comb - the birds chose to go out into the covered run and were standing on one foot, then the other - feet all seem to be ok - we check them over as best as possible - two are having feathers pulled on their heads because we believe put their head under the others on the roosts
regarding drafts - different temps inside than out - not wind - Woods points out that when a screen is placed in front of a window, the greatest percentage of wind is actually stopped
